UB research group OpenSystems receives the CHARM-EU Open Science Recognition Award

OpenSystems includes the participation, among others, of the researchers Isabelle Bonhoure, Ferran Larroya, Ivan Casanovas, Marc Sadurní and Martín F. Díaz. This team creates knowledge in collaboration with communities that share social interests and worries, and it acts as a community builder embedding openness in governance, methods, training, data and policy engagement. This approach surfaces in a series of flagship projects, capacity-building initiatives, and institutional roles that collectively advance open science principles.  ​​

One of the projects of OpenSystems is Co-designing Citizen Social Science for Collective Action (CoAct), funded by the Horizon 2020 programme. This initiative placed marginalized communities as equal co-researchers in socially urgent inquiries.

As part of CoAct, OpenSystems worked on “CoActuem per la salut mental”, using a Telegram chatbot co-designed with 32 people. It received the European Union Prize for Citizen Science 2024 in the digital communities category. The group has worked on other projects and initiatives involving the participation of a broad community. It has also institurionalized capacity building via an accredited training programme, Citizen Science with Social Commitment (at the UB since 2023), under CHARM-EU’s TORCH project.

Moreover, the group is a founding member and coordinator of the Barcelona Citizen Science Office (2012–2019), as well as founding member of the European Citizen Science Association. 

The CHARM-EU university alliance created this award in 2023, as part of its mission to promote and mainstream comprehensive open science practices. It aims to recognize those people who, doing research or teaching in the alliance member universities, demonstrated their commitment to open science.

​​​​​​​Further information.